SUCCESS STORY:
Event Sponsorship Redesign Results in New Energy and 300% Increase in Revenue

Challenge: A leading non-profit organization knew its signature event could do a better job generating revenue.  Leadership envisioned the event, a two-hour reception with a brief program showcasing the group's accomplishments, as a key contributor to the organization's strategic goal of improving sustainability within the next five years.  In August 2006, they engaged Bower & Co. Consulting LLC to recommend ways to improve the event, already scheduled three months later.

Recommendation: The first opportunity we recognized was sponsorship.  Like many non-profit organizations, this organization designed "sponsorship" opportunities for its event by borrowing a page from the development model.  Various "contribution" levels, tethered to operational costs for programs, were available for modest name recognition in the event materials.  As a development model for individual or small business donors, this approach was attractive.  For corporate partners, however, Bower & Co. recommended a different approach.

Results:  Bower & Co. Consulting LLC restructured the program, distinguishing the individual contributor opportunities from those geared towards the corporate market.   Then we fashioned a new array of offerings of higher value to corporations, with much higher fees, commensurate with this value.

Here's what happened:

• The client adopted the program immediately.  Our meeting to introduce the ideas and structure began with some trepidation and turned into a brainstorming session with new ideas, a new way of considering providing value for corporate partners, and new energy for the president, the organization's chief fundraiser.
• Board members, many of whom represent corporations, such as UPS, Wachovia Bank, and Exelon Corporation, immediately recognized and confirmed the value of this approach for future corporate partners.
• That energy propelled my client into action, and, with less than eight weeks till the event, the organization landed two corporate partners—one as the presenting sponsor—and automatically increased revenue by 300% over the previous year's event.
• While the timing prevented adding additional corporate partners to the roster for 2006—sponsorship requires at least 12 months to develop for existing events—we were able to do a "soft launch" in 2006, develop comfort and familiarity with the program, and incorporate feedback from prospects.